>> production assistance for "inside washington" was provided by allbritton communications and "politico," reporting on the legislative, executive, and political arena. >> the strategy will be executed this week. >> this week on "inside washington," what is the game plan for libya? >> nato allies have now decided to enforce the no-fly zone over libya. >> president obama catching flak from both sides of the aisle. >> the president exceeded his authority. >> the president is going to inject as into a civil war that will cost us billions of dollars. >> first anniversary of the health-care law. >> a year later, it looks

worse than it did then and that is saying something. >> i may be 5'2" and wearing a yellow suit but i am one tough lady. >> we the people will take back our government. >> and what is going on at reagan national airport? >> the tower is apparently unmanned. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> they are not exactly pen pals, but house speaker john boehner wrote a letter to president obama. he has questions, he said, about the american role in libya, our strategy there, the cost, the operation, gaddafi, whether he stays or goes. all these concerns point to a fundamental question -- what is our benchmark for success in

libya? how'd you think the president would answer that, evan? >> i wish he would tell us. i often wonder if obama knows. maybe he doesn't have an answer. basically, our policy is to get rid of gaddafi, because if we don't, he is going to attack the united states. this is a scary, a crazy guy. i worry about domestic terrorism if we don't get rid of them. obama has never expressed that. sort of. who knows? >> any idea, nina? >> i guess i am not any clearer than evan is. this seems to me like the first president bush's first war in iraq. we were not sure exactly what our goal -- our stated goal was to shove them back -- >> get him out of kuwait.

>> there were lots of questions about whether we should of gotten rid of saddam hussein 100 that is where we are today. can we live with a divided and libya with a no-fly zone? >> colby? >> i'm not having as much difficulty understanding this, whether you agree with it or not. the objective is to stop gaddafi from killing his own people. air superiority, aircraft back on the ground, protecting the civilian population. i think they have achieved that limited objective. the question is where do we go from here, but i don't see any confusion on the limited objective. >> benchmark of success, >> the international community's policy, meaning the u.n. authorization, is to protect the population. that is the minimalist position. the u.s. as a separate -- i

don't know if they used the word "objective," but it is clear that he has to go. our national interest is that he go, because as evan said, if he doesn't, we will have problems at home, we will have lost. the problem is that obama has hitched himself to the un, this multilateralism, so that we are constrained to go for what the u.n. and the international community wants, which is much, much less than what the u.s. wants and needs. >> what if gaddafi doesn't go? peggy noonan, writing in "the wall street journal" this week, "what are we for? two of the fort was a glow wjla.co -- who are we 4?" >> lets it get back to the objective of getting rid of gaddafi. setting out to kill him or

defeat them -- you could say we have an axis of evil in the countries. you didn't go-- to war against korea because of the axis of evil. or when reagan talks about the evil empire, clearly an enemy. we did not go to war -- >> but this is different. if you go to kill the king, you have to kill the king. if you leave them in place, what you have? you have a partition the east and west libya, an ongoing, eternal civil war where we have to stay in the air. in iraq, we were in the air for 12 years. >> we have been at this thing for a few days. what they are doing is degrading, as i follow it, his military. >> we could easily get a stalemate.

gaddafi controls as capital -- >> continue to degrade his capabilities. what happens is some of his own people start to -- >> that should be our objective. i heard you kill him directly or you encourage -- either you kill them directly or you encourage -- >> it doesn't happen overnight. b, i am not quite so anxious to have open a third front in the war. i think we did see in iraq that it was very difficult with saddam hussein still there. kurdistan is the most prosperous part -- >> if you want 12 years of no flies on -- >> i would rather have 12 years of a no-fly zone than 12 years of war -- >> i will ask it again. how long? what are the goals? what is the cost? do we have an exit strategy?

>> no, no, no, and now. gaddafi is a dangerous guy. i fear that if we box him in, he will find a way to hurt us in the united states, domestic terrorism. >> pan am 103. >> he has a track record. >> is that enough to nail the guy right there? >> there are good questions to ask and iraq. boehner asked good questions. remember we had the lovely little or in print that? inwalovely little war grenada? >> that came on the heels of the explosion of the marine barracks in beirut. >> that was a harmless, pretend a little show war. you show your strength every once in awhile, but there was no

cost. but you don't do the big ones unless you are serious. >> that is the real issue, is obama is serious? look, i had all kinds of questions about getting into this and the first place, as did obama, as did secretary gates. obama, in the end, made a decision, we are going in, but now his objective is that america ought to leave and have the war on going. he wants to give up -- it is process over bad policy. you just heard him say in that at the exit strategy is executed this week. >> what is the exit strategy? >> the u.s. has special capability that will still be at us and that war. >> there are two parts to this, the easy part, the no-fly zone, and the other part, continuing to protect the civilian population, which apparently we

have. >> gaddafi tries to test the no- fly zone. one fighter shot down by a french fighter, that is the end of that. >> well, the reason that we do is that after six days of negotiation, in which the u.s., through the secretary of state, desperately tried to get nato and others to take over, she did not succeed. that is why she at that awkward a statement tuesday night, saying "we are negotiating, drawing up our plans tornado to take over." the thing is, if we give that up, which obama is desperate to do, that is what he means by it exit strategy, and then, airstrikes -- who do you attack? is it only a tank in place -- tank in battle? all those issues have to be decided by nato, 28 cutters in consensus, meaning that every state in nato has a veto,

meaning that turkey has a veto. turkey is not anxious to do anything in the war. the negotiations we had all week collapsed on thursday when turkey said it opposed any attempt to shift all of the real fighting on. >> the secretary-general says we're going -- >> on friday, turkey said that the support a -- they support the nato operation now. these things take time. >> congressman dennis kucinich, a liberal democrat, says the president has exceeded his constitutional authority. he did send a letter to congress on monday as saying what he was going to do. has he exceeded his constitutional authority? >> look, we all know that in the modern road, you cannot get the quick congressional vote you might have had a 100 years ago. you just have to act too quickly. i think it's pretty clear that obama did not talk to the leaders of congress himself in a

sedition way. that is the best you can hope for, and he did not do it. >> senator richard lugar, highly respected on the foreign relations committee, said that the obama administration did not consult meaningfully with congress before starting military -- >> he is right. >> congress has had a pathetic and track record on this over the years. charles wrote a column and said this is "war run by an ivy league professor." it has the feeling of that, because my guess is that when we go through vulnerable, samantha power, a former kennedy school professor who is an impressive, powerful, charismatic woman, went to obama and said, "you have got to rescue these people," and he was convinced by it. susan rice, the charismatic, impressive u.n. ambassador, said the same thing, and hillary did -- >> that is the other rap, that the women -- >> let's not go there.

the women outmuscled the generals on this thing -- i don't believe that. >> the gender is irrelevant, but it was power and hillary and susan rice -- >> and john mccain and senator kerry, who also said -- >> mccain did not sway obama, i can assure you of that. >> i think hearing it from that side probably had an impact on his thinking. >> i have a serious thing to say here. >> all, i'm sorry. >> i do think the specter of rwanda and people who lived through it did hang over this decision. the prospect of hundreds of thousands of people being killed, blood literally running

in the streets, was something that -- nobody wanted to stand by the way bill clinton's administration stood by and came to regret it. >> the health-care law passed a year ago this week. a progress report. >> after a century of striving, a year of debate, a historic vote, health care reform is no longer and on that promise. it is the law of the land. >> that was the president obama on march 23 after the law passed. states had sued the obama administration to block implementation of the law. they argue that the individual mandate is unconstitutional. neeina, when will this go to the supreme court? >> in the late fall at the earliest, and be decided in 2012. >> which way?

>> i'm not 100% sure. i do know this -- the one group of people that is accepted that is going to happen, and i am the only person here who lives with this every day by marriage, our doctors and hospitals. they are preparing. they are preparing to change the whole system every dramatically. some of them are scared, some of them are looking forward to it, but they are preparing. >> you asked which way it goes on the supreme court. it depends which side of the bed kennedy gets up on that morning trade since he is king of the united states, he answers that question. >> also the political question. the law of unintended consequences kids in here, because you have a republican house and more republican senators in the senate, you have republicans preaching repeal. a recent poll by the kaiser family foundation -- only 40% of

the american people want to see a repeal. >> there is a canary in the mine shaft, and it is called massachusetts. massachusetts did this mandated, extended care about three years before, and they are living with that now. it didn't save money, it cost a ton of money. health-care systems are wrestling with what to do about that. where we are going is that everybody will end up in an hmo in boston. it will be the kind of managed care. eventually, i guess, we will get there. but if you want to see what is going to happen, what massachusetts, because they cannot afford it and they are tied in knots. >> mitt romney -- >> it is going to be a big issue. >> it was going to -- it was hard to see how this was going to end opup. but you already have people

covered -- for example, students covered by their parents health insurance for the first time up until, i guess, age 26. you have people with pre- existing conditions no longer able to be kicked off -- >> and massachusetts did not have the same kind of a tense, anyway, at cost savings. we will see how that works, but they did not have the structural things in a single state. >> if nina is right about the time to go to the supreme court, it will be in the middle of a presidential campaign. >> you got it. >> prohibiting insurance companies from telling somebody down -- can you run a campaign on that? >> there are pluses and minuses. the american people are adults and they would understand that is a cost. they also understand that for pre-existing conditions eight insurance companies have to get more from elsewhere. otherwise, they will go

bankrupt. if you create new entitlement -- hold on, nina -- 30 million additional americans, it is going to cost you. there is no free lunch not go all the protestations of the government that these are savings is a farce. ordinary folks understand that, which is why he had such absolutely strong, on waivers opposition -- on wavering opposition for a year after it -- and half. >> every single poll as americans strongly, large majorities, a favorite all the goodies in this -- >> who would oppose a goodie? if somebody offers you ice-cream -- >> there is no free lunch -- >> they make the case for the cost, and you have to weigh the benefits and costs, the public opinion result is people oppose it generally. >> i like the reference to ordinary people understanding

this. >> it is intuitive. >> and those of us who don't know -- >> you don't have to go into details an actuarial -- you are going to given entitlement to 30 million people -- >> if the date end up in the emergency room and get charitable care, it might be. >> in washington, d.c., there is no free lunch for anything. we continue the search for the 2012 republican presidential candidate. >> we will restore america proj. >> i want to be part of the composition of making sure president obama only serves one term. >> that is minnesota congresswoman michelle bachmann with jonathan karl of abc. she was in iowa this week following last week's visit to new hampshire. jonathan martin of "politico"

writes that she rose millions in her last campaign. she was born in iowa, conservative, and 60% of o iowa caucus goers identify themselves as evangelical. what about malecki? -- tim pawlenty? >> confident it, two-term governor. he's not somebody republicans are on fire about, but he carries the least amount of baggage among the major candidates trade with romney, we have health care in massachusetts. gingrich, a lot of stuff in his past. with other candidates, you have difficulties. palin as high negatives. he is relatively anodyne, at no negatives that i can see pretty . >> jonathan margin is writing

that mitt romney is going to do a slow slog here, raising money, and it will drop off one by one. >> romney has got romneycare. i don't know what he does about that. >> does anybody make your heart beat faster? [laughter] >> they cannot come up with an answer. >> this is not a year where there is fantastic enthusiasm for anyone. that is why you might have republicans reaching into the next generation, who might be running in 2016, like christie. none of these guys make my heart beat faster -- >> there are good republicans that nobody has heard of. mitch daniels of indiana is a brilliant governor who directly wants to deal with our fiscal problems. jon huntsman, nobody has heard of him, but apparently he is a great guy --

>> ambassador to china. >> even haley barbour, he has been a lobbyist and all that, but he has been in the sausage factory and knows how to make deals. >> four years ago we were talking about mccain and mike huckabee, and all of a sudden rudy giuliani jump out there. you look at his numbers in iowa, and%, new hampshire, 10%, and he said, "i will wait until florida." he was never heard from again until the national convention. >> it is important for people like michelle bachmann to get in early. she's a very attractive that figure now she's a celebrity in the republican party. she generates a lot of enthusiasm. she does not have the baggage that sarah palin has -- >> she will. >> the battle of their it revolutionary war in concord, new hampshire? >> she does not have the high

negatives. at she has problems, but not a high negatives that palin has. >> there are the ones where she asserted big -- >> bachmann at huckabee had the most intense followings among republicans. >> huckabee is having a good time, a successful show on fox, building a house in florida. he does not need this. he would be nuts to do it. mitch daniels is a strong candidate. i don't think he is going to run. i think he will be left with people -- i did you will be left with people with baggage. barbour has the baggage. it will be the least offensive other candidates who gets through. >> three wars in the middle

east. the numbers are bad now the american people like this. the health care thing, rebel against taking over the house, and yet the president does not seem to be -- republicans taking over the past, and yet the president does not seem to be hurt by this? >> his favorables are good, especially matched against others. >> mid-to-high-forties. >> in the last -- >> the republican party does not want to flirt with realistic candidates who could beat him. that is the problem with the republican party right now. when a candidate like michelle bachmann is a realistic possibility, it is trouble for the party. >> on like al sharpton. >> exactly like al sharpton!

>> in the last 70 years, only twice has an incumbent president lost a reelection bid is hard to do. >> suppose you're trying to fly it and national airport and you call the tower, and the answers? it happened. -- nobody answers? it happened. >> that is interesting. >> yeah, that is interesting. to airliner's after minute tried to contact the tower at reagan national airport. what is going on here, evan? >> i love how cool the pilots are. "well, there is nobody there." we've been a little rough on public employees, but ones i hope to better our air traffic controllers. >> the guy was asleep. >> i don't know where he was,

but he did not hear the phone, for example, this says something about cuts and public services. an entire generation of air traffic controllers reach retirement age, so we're getting new ones. it is very expensive to train them, and we're not up to snuff on that. we had only one guide their. if he had been working too many hours, he might have fallen off to sleep. he should not have -- >> put somebody else there -- >> they ought to have it to people there. >> nina's solution is to spend more money. he wanted no my solution? >> fire him. >> red bull intravenously. [laughter] >> budget cuts or not, if you are on duty, you stay awake. you do not, you get fired. let's not complicate this thing at. maybe have two people, but both

people could fall asleep as well. we can have two pilots of fall asleep in the plane. >> after 9/11, there were thoughts about closing that permanently. never using it again. >> you would never do that. to close the capitol hill -- to close to capitol hill. >> exactly. >> and i want to use it. >> last word. see you next week. for a transcript of this broadcast, log on to insidewashington.tv. hi, i'm rick steves, with more of the best of europe.

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